Cletus Del Roy Spuckler, also known as Cletus the Slack-Jawed Yokel, is a stereotypical redneck with a good-natured personality. He is thin and is usually portrayed wearing a pair of jeans. He resides with his family on Rural Route 9 in Springfield. He is married to Brandine Spuckler, and it is heavily implied throughout the series that they are also brother and sister, making their 51 children together inbred.

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Growing up, Cletus developed a loving relationship with his mother, whom he addresses as 'Maw.' He has always been social and hard working. Cletus isn't bothered by others' opinions of him. He isn't ashamed by his marriage to his apparent relative, Brandine Spuckler.[1] Cletus has several hobbies which include whittling "piney babies" for children, searching for roadkill, digging through garbage, and spending time with everyone in his family except Brandine. He admits his favourite food is fresh skunk and raccoon.[2] Cletus had a "smell-hound" named Geech.

Cletus has seemed to be suffering from some sort of illness caused by drinking mercury out of a thermometer. It badly affected his memory. He whittles what he observes into wood with a penknife. Chief Wiggum was able to track down Bart and Gina after they escaped from the Juvenile Correctional Facility through Cletus' wood carving of them. Cletus also possesses a form of precognitive vision through whittling. He predicted that Chief Wiggum would be mauled by a bear later in that episode.

Cletus and Brandine have a happy relationship, however they are often shown having disagreements. Cletus had an apparent stronger love to a pig, rather than Brandine. At one time, Brandine wielded a shotgun at him for giving the pig "a day of beauty and make-up" instead of herself.[3]
Cletus and Brandine were once rejected from coming to Lenny's party after they are both afraid to use the "uppity box" (an elevator).[4]

Cletus works as a fifth generation dirt farmer. He also owns a successful chain of moonshine stills, and was delighted when it was decided that his drink would be used to flavor the latest version of Southern Cracker.[5] He and Brandine operate a vegetable shack near the Kwik-E-Mart.[6] He is currently in the process of opening a family business that sells miscellaneous animal parts. Cletus took advantage of the money his children were making and used it to his own personal satisfaction.[7]

During Trappuccino, Cletus distracts Cargill while the town escapes through a hole in the top of the dome, only to be knocked off by Homer attempting to get into the dome (surprisingly, he was actually able to succeed at distracting him, at least before Homer entered, a fact that Cargill was repulsed and embarrassed of).[8]

Cletus has an ongoing relationship with Brandine, who is generally represented as his wife, although the nature of their exact relationship is somewhat vague. It is often implied that the two are siblings. At an auto racing event, Brandine remarks "Dang, Cletus! Why'd you have to park so close to my parents?" to which Cletus responds, "Now honey, they's mah parents too!" however, he may mean that they are his in-laws[9] (This plays into the stereotype that incest is prevalent among hillbillies).

Homer, who was ordained over the Internet as a minister, was once preparing to marry Cletus and Brandine. Looking at a form, he asked "Wait a minute… are you two brother and sister?" Brandine replied, "We's all kindsa thangs [10]." To complicate the issue further, Brandine remarked to Cletus "Yer tha best husband, brother and son I ever did have.[11]." If all this is correct, it is to be assumed that "Maw" is his stepmother and Brandine is his natural mother, his father being Brandine's father, making him her half-brother and son. Further confusing matters, one of Cletus' sons creates a hand-drawn family tree. According to this diagram, Brandine is the child of Cletus and an alien.[12] Cletus and Brandine have thirty-nine children, which include a sheep and a walking hot dog.

Cletus seems to be the father of a large number of children, 44 to be exact. When he presents Marge with 300

Cletus with some of his children

coupons for free pretzels from her pretzel business, he calls out to his children: Tiffany, Heather (twice), Cody, Dylan, Dermot, Jacob, Jordan, Taylor, Brittany, Wesley, Rumer, Scout, Cassidy, Zoe, Chloe, Max, Hunter, Kendall, Caitlin, Noah, Sasha, Morgan, Kyra, Ian, Lauren, Qbert, and Phil. Cletus and Brandine also have a daughter named Condoleezza Marie, who was somehow switched with a bag of sugar that Homer was carrying as part of a parenting exercise, and a daughter named Rubella Scabies, whose middle name was inspired by a word spelled by Lisa in her audition for the annual spelling bee. They have another daughter, Gummy Sue.[13]

When Brandine tests Moe's drink, it is seen she has a card saying "19 children".[14]

Lisa encounters Cletus gathering up roadkill for a hillbilly wedding feast. In the short dialogue that ensues it is implied that Brandine is giving birth to yet another child in the truck's cab.[15]

The children's names seem to mock the pretentiousness that celebrities have in giving their own children "cute", unorthodox, or non-traditional names.

Lisa once tutored seven of the Spuckler children, named Birthday, Crystal Meth, Dubya, Incest, International Harvester, Jitney and Whitney. However, Brandine reveals that Cletus is the father of only two of these children (casting doubt on the paternity of the other children of the Spuckler household).[16] Brandine was once seen to give birth in a car, apparently with very little pain, and asking Cletus to cut the "umbrellical cord". After one of his children, Carl, is accused by Homer of cheating at soccer, Cletus says of his children, "I have sired a dumb-dumb, a mush-head, a whatsit, a dogboy, and something with a human face and fish body what we called Kevin. But my young'uns is not dirty players!"[17]

One of their daughters, Mary Wrestlemania Spuckler, who is supposed to be married to Bart. Cletus mentions that they "name all their kids after what they think is gonna happen to them. Ain't that right, 'Stabbed In Jail'?" to which Stabbed In Jail Spuckler (who is seen sharpening a wooden stick) replies, "We'll see who stabs who."[18]

Brandine refers to him as Cletus Del Roy Spuckler, implying that Del Roy is his middle name and Spuckler is his last name.[19] Cletus signs this as his name in surprisingly elegant cursive to Marge's petition to ban sugar from Springfield.[20][21]

In a "Treehouse of Horror" issue of Simpsons Comics, Brandine (off-panel) is attempting to give birth to a child to completely fill out a set of Seven Dwarfs costumes. In Simpsons Comic #113, It is revealed that Homer and Cletus are cousins twice removed, which partly explained their similar dress code of white shirts and blue pants, and their lazy personality.

Cletus appears in the level Invasion of the Yokel-Snatchers as an alien abduction victim who at that time was going to purchase a flat-screen HDTV at the Springfield Mall. He also appears in Mob Rules as one of the people Marge can use to protest the sales of the Grand Theft Scratchy game to minors.

Cletus was introduced during the fifth season in "Bart Gets an Elephant". He is shown as one of the "slack-jawed yokels" gawking at Bart's elephant Stampy. Cletus' voice is slightly deeper in this initial appearance than in later episodes. He, like the Sea Captain before him, was the go-to character for a quick laugh on the show, and is a staff favorite. He was introduced as a character in "22 Short Films About Springfield". The episode featured bluegrass music played on a banjo accompanied with different taglines stating the abnormal things Cletus has done including eating a skunk and losing a toe.